Republican leaders overwhelmingly voted Friday to shorten their presidential selection process in an attempt to minimize damage from GOP candidates attacking each other.

"This is a historic day for our party," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus declared.

He said the changes would not allow Republicans to "slice and dice" each other for six months or participate in "a circus of debates." Republican candidates participated in 27 debates for the 2012 nomination.

New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada are scheduled to host the first four contests in February 2016 under the new schedule, while the remainder of the nation's 46 states and territories would vote between early March and mid-May. The party's national convention is expected in late June or early July, roughly two months sooner than has become the norm.

Officials from early-voting states praised the plan, which establishes strict penalties for states that jump out of order, as Florida did in 2012.

The shift comes during the winter meeting of the Republican National Committee, a collection of party leaders and activists from every state that controls the GOP's national infrastructure. The group expects to finalize additional changes, including setting a new date for its 2016 national convention, later in the year. Among other changes, the RNC intends to dramatically reduce the number of presidential debates and have more control over the moderators.

GOP leaders also complained that the party's 2012 nominee, Mitt Romney, was forced to suffer through a lengthy and expensive primary process that ultimately hurt his ability to compete against Obama. An earlier convention date, for example, would allow the party's next nominee to access millions of dollars of general election cash months earlier.